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Elisabeth Moss is an American veteran actress who has an acting career as enduring as her character, June Osborne, aka Offred, in the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale. She plays one of the titular Handmaids in the series based on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel. Moss has had at least a TV show or a movie release almost every year since her acting debut in 1990, per her IMDb.
One of her well-known shows before she landed the role in the Hulu series was the political drama The West Wing, which aired on NBC from 1999 to 2006. Several more TV shows later and dozens of movies, she has over 90 acting credits on her IMDb page and counting.
Moss also tried her hand behind the camera as a director and producer. She directed eight episodes of The Handmaid's Tale and two episodes of Shining Girls. She was also an executive producer for both shows.
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Offred: All about Elisabeth Moss's character in The Handmaid's Tale
Elisabeth Moss' Offred is a central character in the Hulu dystopian sci-fi epic, and most of the time, she is the narrator in the story. She was originally named June, but when she was forcibly taken to Gilead, she was assigned as a Handmaid to Fred. It was how she got the name "Offred" or "Of-Fred."
Hulu describes June as a "fiercely determined" character who "ruthlessly fights for freedom" despite the suffering and torture she has endured. At the beginning of the series, she's one of the few fertile women, aka Handmaids, in the totalitarian Republic of Gilead. She was forced into a life of servitude as the reproductive surrogate for powerful commanders and their wives.
In The Handmaid's Tale season 6, her journey will bring her back into a fight to try to take down Gilead, per the season synopsis from Hulu.
Besides the audience, her portrayal of Offred also piqued the interest of critics and award-giving bodies. She won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the 2017 Primetime Emmys and nabbed the Best Actress at the Critics' Choice award in 2018.
About Elisabeth Moss, the actress who plays Offred in The Handmaid's Tale
Elisabeth Moss, born Elisabeth Singleton Moss, in Los Angeles, California, has made a name for herself in Hollywood since 1990. Moss, a practicing Scientologist, has been active in show business since her acting debut in a 1990 TV film. She was in Bar Girls, a movie about a pair of mismatched law partners.
Some of her projects early in her career include the show Lucky Chances. She was also in the films Suburban Commando, Midnight's Child, and Gypsy. After that was a recurring character in the legal drama Picket Fences from 1992 to 1995. In 1999, she landed roles in several movies. Earthly Possessions, The Joyriders, and Anywhere But Here all came out in the same year.
Also, in 1999, she landed the role of the youngest Presidential daughter, Zoey Bartlet, in the drama The West Wing, where she was a recurring cast member for seven seasons. And, while doing The West Wing, she was also guest-starring in other shows. She was in The Practice, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, and Invasion.
Her next big TV show project came in 2007. Moss landed the female lead in the AMC period drama Mad Men. The series aired from 2007 to 2015. Elisabeth Moss also starred in another Primetime Emmy-winning series, Top of the Lake, from 2013 to 2017.
Also, in 2017, she was cast as June Osborne, aka Offred, in The Handmaid's Tale. And while she was in the Hulu series, she was also starring in the 2022 show Shining Girls and the 2024 mini-series The Veil. She also starred in numerous films from 2000 to 2024, including The Missing, Day Zero, The Pack, Queen of Earth, The Free World, The French Dispatch, and Shell.
Catch Elisabeth Moss as Offred in The Handmaid's Tale season 6, which is now streaming on Hulu. New episodes of the sixth and final season arrive weekly.
